The core priority of the government concerning the Customs system is to develop a world-class Customs system that supports economic growth.

Modernising Authorisations

Authorisations are HMRC's trusted trader schemes. Customs authorisations give businesses access to a range of facilitations that help them trade more efficiently, and excise authorisations enable traders to produce, store and move excise goods, preventing fraud.

Modernising the HMRC Authorisations will streamline 42 stand-alone authorisations into five groups.

1. Authorised Economic Operator (AEO)
2. Fiscal
3. Simplifications and Declarations
4. Transit, Ports and Wharves
5. Excise

This fully digital system will improve user experience and eliminate the burden of paper applications for traders, allowing them to receive real-time updates.

Changes to Customs Guarantees for Special Procedures, Temporary Storage and Duty Deferment

The government will engage with the industry in Spring 2023 on potential changes to enable more traders to be authorised to use certain Customs facilitations (Special Procedures, Temporary Storage and Duty Deferment) without a financial guarantee. The government is looking at possibilities to liberalise the options to hold a financial guarantee and extending this to other special procedures for more traders.

The government removed the guarantee requirement for most traders in January 2021, taking advantage of the flexibility of being outside the EU, and is now considering further changes to enable more traders to use these facilitations without a guarantee and benefit from the associated cost saving.

Transit Policy Simplifications

Following the 2022 Call for Evidence: An Independent Customs Regime, the government is now planning a package of measures to simplify transit facilitation. These measures aim to increase transit movements using the simplification process.

The government wants to engage with the industry on how to make it easier for authorised consignors to start movements at a client's location and how they can make it cheaper and quicker to complete, whilst ensuring compliance.

For Outbound Movements:

Making it easier for authorised consignors to start a movement at a client's premises by replacing the current paper-based approval process with a digital notification process.

Reducing costs for authorised consignors by making a 100% guarantee waiver the default position during the authorisation process and signposting applicants to the possibility of operating without a financial guarantee in place.

Clarifying how authorised consignors can start a transit movement from their (or their client's) premises when exporting goods from standard export ports.

For Inbound Movements:

Modernising the unloading process for authorised consignees.

Clarifying how to end a transit movement when loading goods on ships, trains and planes that are destined for their stores, and simplifying the export declaration requirements in these cases.

Consultation Announcement: Introducing Voluntary Standards for Customs Intermediaries

Follows feedback received as part of the 2022 Call for Evidence: An Independent Customs Regime, how the intermediary sector was operating during transition periods. 

An insightful response highlighted areas for improvement; quality varied considerably across the sector, and the government wants to ensure traders are well supported. 

Customs intermediaries play a vital role in the border operation and the moving of goods. A formal consultation focusing on raising standards across the intermediary sector will begin and focus on how this can be achieved using a voluntary standard.

Simplified Customs Declaration Process Improvements

In direct response to stakeholder input to the 2022 Call for Evidence: An Independent Customs Regime, the government has made three changes within the Spring 2023 Budget, although a timeline for these changes is yet to be announced.

• Increasing the amount of time traders have to submit their supplementary declaration for imports and exports (in the case of exports where it relates to more than one consignment of goods) from the fourth working day of the month to the 10th calendar day of the month.
• Increasing the amount of time traders have to submit their final supplementary declarations from the fourth working day of the month to the 11th calendar day of the month.
• Allowing traders to submit one supplementary declaration for goods imported over the course of a month (known as aggregation), reducing the total number of declarations that must be submitted.

Simplifying Customs Declarations Requirements Review

The government is reviewing Customs declaration requirements and will engage stakeholders on this work later in the year. This review will assess the potential scope for simplifications to Customs declaration requirements that could be delivered while ensuring that declarations continue to facilitate the essential functions of the UK's Customs system.